"Today I walk alone" Jared said, his eyes blank as they stared at the ground.
"What are you even talking about? You have me, silly." Ashlyn grabbed his hand, her eyes sparkling with life. "Hurry up now, you still have to get home before it's dark!"
Jared looked up at the street, leading straight towards the setting sun. He had seen this same sunset a million times before, and he would continue to, until the day he died.
"You'll be here tomorrow, right?"
"Of course! You know I promised to be here every night." Ashlyn said.
Jared looked up at her confused face. "That's what I thought."

The silence fell over them like a blanket, as the sun dipped below the horizon. Jared watched the last streaks of color fade out before he made it home. 
"I enjoyed this, I can't wait to see you again tomorrow!" Ashlyn waved as she turned to go home, leaving Jared alone on his doorstep. 
"Me too." He whispered to himself.
With a slow and careful hand he pushed the door open, and despite his efforts, a loud creak broke through the house. He cringed as a light turned on.
"Quiet, your father is asleep." His mom came down the stairs. "You know he doesn't want you out so late."
"Yes mom."
"I worry about you too, alone at night."
"But I wasn't alone!" He said.
"Oh..." The shimmer of tears begun to fill his mother's eyes. "Just go to bed now, honey."

Jared tiptoed into his room, and crawled into bed. His thoughts lingered on his walk today. He felt a little odd, something churning in his stomach. Sleep overtook him, before he had a chance to continue questioning. 

As morning light broke through Jared's window, he blinked himself awake and got dressed. His feet padded down the stairs and made its way to the kitchen where he could smell that his mother had breakfast ready.
"Oh good you're awake. Eat up, after this we're heading out. Your father made a doctors appointment for you."
Jared sat and ate the eggs he was given.
He got into the car as he was told.
Spoke nothing the entire ride.
But when it was over he screamed.

This wasn't his family doctor he'd seen his whole life. This place said in big letters "MENTAL CLINIC".
Jared didn't need psychiatric help. Jared was fine.
"Mom why are we here? This isn't the doctor! Take me home!"
"We're just trying to help, honey."
"I'm not insane, I'm fine, why are we here?" His breathing started to become more rapid.
"I know, I don't think you're insane. You just seem like you're under a lot of stress, I just want to help."
"Ok." Jared watched himself step out of the car.
He watched himself enter the clinic.
Jared stood beside his mother, but he was alone the entire time.

When he got back into the car, he still couldn't feel anything. He still watched as Jared took actions, that weren't his own. And as he rode home, he couldn't turn away from the bottle the doctor handed his mother. His vision blurred, but still they locked on to the medicine. What was in that bottle? He could barely remember anything that happened. Truth is, whatever went down in there, he was too far away to notice it.

"Honey, take the pill, please." His mother said. The wall of their home kitchen had never felt so cold, so foreboding. It was like at any moment they would move in and crush him.
"No."
"Please, you need to take it. I'm worried about you. The doctor wouldn't have given this to us if you didn't need it." 
"No, I won't take it. I'm not insane." Jared body begun to shiver, despite how warm it had been.
"Jared please! I'm just trying to help you!" 
Jared said nothing, his vision never left the ground. His mother let out a deep sigh, and set the bottle down on the counter. "Your father will be home soon, you could have made this so much easier on yourself."

When Jared's father walked in the door he was still in the kitchen. He had sat down after his mother left. "So, you wouldn't take your medicine?"
Jared's face went hot when he heard his father's voice.
"No."
"Get up." His father lifted him off the ground and shoved the bottle into his hands.
"I won't take the pill." 
His father handed him a glass of water. "It's for your own good, take it."
"I won't take the pill!" His voice rose, and he could immediately see his father's eye start twitching.
"UGH! You worthless brat, why do you have to be so stubborn? Just let me help you already!"
Jared's father grabbed him by his hair and pushed his head against the counter, the glass of water he held shattered against the ground. His father yanked his jaw open. He tried to pull free, but before he could move he felt something drop into his throat. Coughing, trying to remove the pill, all he could do was swallow it. 
"If I have to force you every day I will." His father left the room.

As the unrelenting seconds ticked by, Jared could feel nothing, his whole world had been ripped away. All humanity that once filled his eyes was gone, and replaced only by apathy. Not solely from the effects of the medicine. When it became time again for his walk, he got up, and left the house. There he waited again for Ashlyn to join him.

"Jared! Hello!" She ran up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I hurried over here because I knew last night you were worried about me showing up."
Jared fell in pace beside her as they walked. "Hey."
Ashlyn's hand dropped from his shoulder, she noticed his eyes fixated on the ground.
"Hey, cheer up! We're here together now, you don't need to be sad."
"I'm just not feeling the best." Jared said.
"Oh, well if you aren't feeling good maybe you should go home."
"No, I'm fine, I can keep walking."
"I'll be here tomorrow, I really think you should get some rest." Ashlyn lifted his chin, and looked into his eyes. "I'm just trying to help."
Those words rung through Jared's brain. I'm just trying to help. His hands formed into a fist, fingernails digging into his skin. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP."
Ashlyn stepped away. "Jared, I'm worried about you."
Jared's arms shot out to grip her by the throat. "Jared I'm worried about you." He mocked, fingers tightening into her flesh. "Jared I just want to help you." He said as she choked and clawed at his fingers. "Jared you're insane they tell me. Jared we're worried they tell me. I WAS FINE, DAMN YOU. I DIDN'T NEED THE PILL. I DIDN'T NEED ANYONE'S HELP."

His grip loosened and her lifeless form fell to the ground with a soft thud. Jared didn't feel a thing as he turned away from the corpse of his lifelong friend. He walked back home, towards the sun that still hung partway up the sky. He walked into his house, where both his parents were still awake.
"You're home early honey!" His mother said.
"Were you walking with anyone today?" His father asked.
"No, I walked alone."
His parents shared a smile. "Our boy is finally healing."